Protecting the Shields -- The Nick Cafardo Thread

[TheoShmeo]

I have a serious question and it is aimed in particular at those who work in the newspaper business or have in the past:
 
Is it possible, or even likely, that Nicky's editors at the Globe know just how pathetic he is but see this thread, or other things like it, and are satisfied that Cafardo is drawing interest and that's all that matters?
 
I read today's dreck and had the same reaction as Dick Pole Upside.  And then I had the horrible thought that maybe our discussion and similar ones explains his continued employment.

 

[Doctor G]

I have a serious question and it is aimed in particular at those who work in the newspaper business or have in the past:
 
Is it possible, or even likely, that Nicky's editors at the Globe know just how pathetic he is but see this thread, or other things like it, and are satisfied that Cafardo is drawing interest and that's all that matters?
 
I read today's dreck and had the same reaction as Dick Pole Upside.  And then I had the horrible thought that maybe our discussion and similar ones explains his continued employment.

Nick generates comments as does Shank.I a sure this is important to his editor.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

I've never worked at a major daily, but the weeklies, monthlies and general online pubs I've worked for have never been that cynical. Just about every editor I've worked for believed in serving the reader first, and that if you give the reader information they can't find anywhere else, you've got a successful publication and the pageviews will follow. 
 
Sure, maybe you have a columnist that people "love to hate," because they're provocative or contrarian, but Nick isn't either of those. He's just bad. His shittiness is not driving pageviews, regardless of a thread like this. I'm pretty sure his lifetime contract explains his continued employment, and not much else. 

 

[terrynever]

Nick is a great guy and he works for a Guild newspaper. A more intense sports editor would move his guys around from beat to beat every few years. Nick is what happens when a reporter grows stale on the same beat, year after year. The Globe used to move guys around. I don't read it anymore so I probably shouldn't even be commenting.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Nick is a great guy and he works for a Guild newspaper. A more intense sports editor would move his guys around from beat to beat every few years. Nick is what happens when a reporter grows stale on the same beat, year after year. The Globe used to move guys around. I don't read it anymore so I probably shouldn't even be commenting.

 
Nick used to be on the Pats beats years ago, back in 2003 or so, but hated Belichick so much he asked to go back to baseball.

 

[Yelling At Clouds]

I have a serious question and it is aimed in particular at those who work in the newspaper business or have in the past:
 
Is it possible, or even likely, that Nicky's editors at the Globe know just how pathetic he is but see this thread, or other things like it, and are satisfied that Cafardo is drawing interest and that's all that matters?
 
I read today's dreck and had the same reaction as Dick Pole Upside.  And then I had the horrible thought that maybe our discussion and similar ones explains his continued employment.

 
I think it's more that the average Globe reader doesn't follow baseball closely enough to realize that all of that material is recycled. His target audience is people who like baseball but don't know or particularly care what, say, WAR is.

 

[Dahabenzapple2]

I read Carfardo a hundred years ago when he wrote for The Quincy Patriot Ledger(do I have the name of the newspaper correct ?) and he was an idiot then. Maybe a nice guy but I don't like idiots even if they might be nice guys.

Havn't read him since I left for NJ in 1982 but I love this thread!!!

 

[Bleedred]

I did myself a favor and stopped reading shaughnessy about 4 years ago.  Best thing I ever did as a consumer of sports news/opinion.  I'm very seriously considering the same thing for Cafardo, although I acknowledge that Nick's "doltness" is far less offensive than CHB's mean-spirited drivel.

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

His target audience is people who like baseball but don't know or particularly care what, say, WAR is.

So... Johnny Gomes, then?

 

[Harry Hooper]

 
Nick used to be on the Pats beats years ago, back in 2003 or so, but hated Belichick so much he asked to go back to baseball.

 
In his diary Nick titled this period "My Years in Hell" since BB was so resolute in not doing Nick's job for him.

 

[Humphrey]

Just like he does now with baseball, Nick had his football "guys" whom he usually spoke of in his columns in nauseatingly glowing terms.
 
Pete Kendall, Rob Konrad, Drew Bledsoe (who he kept pumping up long after it was evident he was DUN), Terry Glenn and, most of all Todd Donahoe (former gm of the Bills) come to mind.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Tom Donohoe. But yeah. Same idea. Same 6 guys feeding him info that he'd slavishly reprint, doing favors for them in return for access. He was huge on the Bills after the Milloy and Bledsoe deals. Oops.

 

[Humphrey]

I figured I'd get the "Donahoe" wrong and not the "Todd", what do I know?   Thanks for correcting me! :buddy:

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I was actually shocked that yesterday Cafardo wrote that the Sox still should have signed Josh Hamilton. That just further proves that he doesn't get baseball and that he never will. Ever. Hamilton is on the wrong side of 30 and needs a baby sitter, but things would have been different in Boston just because. This is the Globe's national baseball guy. 
 
And like I've said time and again, the baseball guy doesn't need to be a stat guy but he needs to have an open mind about the game. And that is what was so great about his predecessors. Gammons, Edes, Whiteside all were able to look at the game through different lenses. Those writers weren't perfect week in and week out, they all had their peccadilloes. But Cafardo picks one viewpoint (shifts are bad, Hamilton is good) and spends umpteen weeks and hammers his readers over the head with the same thing. 
 
Josh Hamilton would have been a nightmare in Boston, worse than in LA. The way he refuses to see this is mind-boggling. 

 

[joe dokes]

 
Josh Hamilton would have been a nightmare in Boston, worse than in LA. The way he refuses to see this is mind-boggling. 

 
I found it interesting that when it came to leaving Texas, Hamilton and Daniels "couldn't agree on a contract structure," but when it came to not coming to Boston, the Sox simply "didn't want to pay him." 

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

 
I found it interesting that when it came to leaving Texas, Hamilton and Daniels "couldn't agree on a contract structure," but when it came to not coming to Boston, the Sox simply "didn't want to pay him." 

Nice catch. Daniels must be one of Nick's guys.

 

[Corsi]

Had this exchange with Saint Nick the other day
 

 

[LeoCarrillo]

That's fantastic. Like bucket list worthy. 1. See Great Wall of China; 2. Tell Cafardo he sucks ...

 

[Corsi]

#dope

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

Dan Uggla had seven (SEVEN!!!) RBI in two days last week!  Mike Rizzo knows a gritty, gutty veteran bargain when he sees one.
 
.204/.268/.388

 

[joyofsox]

Many people talk to Boras. Of course. That is obvious. But Cafardo's comment neatly avoids the point of the tweet - that Nick is Scott's hand puppet.

 

[joe dokes]

Many people talk to Boras. Of course. That is obvious. But Cafardo's comment neatly avoids the point of the tweet - that Nick is Scott's hand puppet.

 
The point is that *everyone* who talks to Boras is his hand-puppet because otherwise Boras stops talking to them.

 

[TheoShmeo]

Nicky soils himself yet again this morning with a not so veiled shot at sabermetrics.
 

All of the internal metrics and analytics seemed to favor the Red Sox as the best team. Their offensive WAR entering the season was better than anyone’s. Their pitching also seemed to be top-of-the-line.
 
But the fancy numbers and actual results don’t seem to mesh at the moment.
 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/05/05/john-henry-disappointed-over-red-sox-recent-run-but-optimistic-overall/wIyjigpFhEzPi5itvNgz9H/story.html?p1=Article_InThisSection_Bottom
 
At least he's consistent.

 

[ForKeeps]

"Their offensive WAR entering the season"   is this his brain's way of describing a projection?

 

[TheoShmeo]

5. One of the best passages of the Pedro Martinez book written by the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman is the one where Martinez blames himself for Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS but still said Grady Little made a mistake leaving him in. As time goes by, I disagree with Pedro. He was the best pitcher, by far, in the stadium that night.
 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/05/09/stars-taking-hit-for-steroid-use/q5mmFw8ALH3fwdjXh5VBcN/story.html
 
Putting aside the fact that it is inarguable that Timlin should have been in there to start the 8th, Nicky gets the question wrong.  Pedro was of course the best pitcher in the Toilet that night.  But after 7 grueling innings, during a phase of his career when he was notoriously cooked after 100 pitches, he was simply spent.  The man pointed to the heavens when he left the mound after 7, signaling to all but Grady and Nick Cafardo that he was done.
 
To reduce this down to who was the best pitcher in the stadium -- as if that question can be asked in a vacuum -- is maddeningly consistent with the author's lack of brain function overall.

 

[threecy]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/05/09/stars-taking-hit-for-steroid-use/q5mmFw8ALH3fwdjXh5VBcN/story.html
 
Putting aside the fact that it is inarguable that Timlin should have been in there to start the 8th, Nicky gets the question wrong.  Pedro was of course the best pitcher in the Toilet that night.  But after 7 grueling innings, during a phase of his career when he was notoriously cooked after 100 pitches, he was simply spent.  The man pointed to the heavens when he left the mound after 7, signaling to all but Grady and Nick Cafardo that he was done.
 
To reduce this down to who was the best pitcher in the stadium -- as if that question can be asked in a vacuum -- is maddeningly consistent with the author's lack of brain function overall.

Perhaps he's using that game as a metaphor for his career, and he's implying his boss at the Globe is Grady.

 

[Humphrey]

Last time I heard Pedro comment on the matter, he said that Nick Johnson was an easy out for him but not for Embree, so leaving him in there to face Johnson wasn't a terrible decision.   He got Johnson out.
 
Then Jeter hit that screaming liner to right field ....that should have been it.   Or maybe not have pitched to him in the first place.
 
Another thing that should have figured into it was that the next hitter was Bernie Williams, a considerably weaker right handed hitter than left.  
 
I'd like to hear Nick be a little more clear on if and when Pedro should have left the game.

 

[TheoShmeo]

Pedro talked about that with Francessa the other day.
 
In my view, bringing Pedro out for Nick Johnson was too risky.  I understand that Pedro was tough on him but many pitchers have said that when they are told they are out of a game, it affects them mentally.  Pedro should not have been forced to gear up again after sitting on the bench thinking he was done.
 
But even if you quibble with that, the decision to leave Pedro in after the Johnson out was indefensible. Yes, Nixon arguably should have caught the Jeter liner, but that it was a hard shot was entirely predictable given the circumstances around Pedro that night (adrenaline leaving the body, Grady having told him that he was only in for Johnson) and the numbers that season reflecting Pedro's fall off after 100-105 pitches.
 
So whether Nick meant that it was defensible for Pedro to have been in there to start the 8th or after Johnson, he was wrong.  And the basis -- that Pedro was the best pitcher in the Stadium -- entirely misses the point.
 
It's also important to note that Timlin and WIlliamson had been extremely effective in the post-season.  Sure, neither is Pedro, and either or both could have choked, but Pedro wasn't geared to be in that situation in 2003.

 

[joyofsox]

As Pedro has said many times (and repeats in the book), there was no way he was going to tell Gump he was cooked. It was 100% against his nature as a competitor.
 
A few weeks after the game, he said: "I felt like a robot at that point. It's difficult for us as competitors to say we're tired. That's why we have coaches."
 
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2003/11/08/as_contract_winds_down_martinez_eyes_future/
 
Despite the three championship titles the Red Sox have won since that horrific night, I'd still run down Gump if he tried to cross the road in front of me.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Plus it took Pedro 7 pitches to dispose of Johnson. Didn't exactly blow him away.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Hey guys....GUYS. Do you know the Sox could have Hamels RIGHT NOW if they really wanted to? Did ya?

 

[dynomite]

Hey guys....GUYS. Do you know the Sox could have Hamels RIGHT NOW if they really wanted to? Did ya?

Eh. What's his offensive WAR?

 

[joe dokes]

The Athletics, who entered the game with the third-best average in the major leagues with runners in scoring position, were kicking themselves from here to San Francisco after going 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position.
 

That might be because hitting w/RISP is not really a "skill" apart from "hitting," which the A's, overall, are pretty average at (100 OPS+)
 

A win. A shutout. But you came away feeling . . . well . . . a little lucky.
 
 

This is where a guy like Speier might talk about FIP and "luck" evening out.  This is where a guy like Cafardo hits "send" and then pushes children out of the way because the buffet at Golden Corral is about to run out of deep-fried lard balls.
 

Everybody sees the game a little differently, but the outward glee over Miley’s outing was a little surprising. Miley acknowledged that Pablo Sandoval saved him with a great play of Billy Burns’s grounder in the fourth with a runner on second base.
 

 
Yeah, because no one on the A's made great plays on defense yesterday.

 

[Humphrey]

Does anyone else here besides Nickles think that jbj not playing center field (and moving Betts over to right when he plays) is remotely an issue?  
 
Oh, as someone pointed out in the Globe comments, jbj is a Boras client, Betts is not.   Just sayin'

 

[Granite Sox]

This was my first reaction as well.  Nick seems to get his feelings hurt and lashes out in print if the Red Sox don't do what he wants them to do.  It's embarrassing and infantile.

 

[joe dokes]

This was my first reaction as well.  Nick seems to get his feelings hurt and lashes out in print if the Red Sox don't do what he wants them to do.  It's embarrassing and infantile.

 
 Its like he's posting to an internet fan site
 

“Jackie Bradley Jr. is the best center fielder in the game of baseball,” said a National League scout. “It’s like playing Brooks Robinson at second base.”
 

 
FWIW -- From 1955-59, Brooks Robinson played in 6/15/50/145/88 games.  He played 2B 25 times.

 

[TheoShmeo]

Does anyone else here besides Nickles think that jbj not playing center field (and moving Betts over to right when he plays) is remotely an issue?  
 
Oh, as someone pointed out in the Globe comments, jbj is a Boras client, Betts is not.   Just sayin'

I think it's indeed "remotely" an issue.  At bottom, the Sox are not using their best CF defender in CF, in the name of not unsettling Betts in his first full season in the majors.  That could bite them in the ass at some point.
 
Of course, Cafardo probably criticized the Sox when they moved Boegarts off SS even though Drew was the best defender at the position on the roster.  He was probably big on the need not to mess with young Xander.
 
But either way, while I think it is remotely an issue because, well, better is better, and JBJ is better than Betts in CF, the list of issues that should be of greater concern is rather long.  This one is above the fact that their blue Friday night unis are nicer than their red ones, and probably should be used exclusively instead of the red ones, but probably not above many other points.

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

Of course, Cafardo probably criticized the Sox when they moved Boegarts off SS even though Drew was the best defender at the position on the roster.  He was probably big on the need not to mess with young Xander.

Why would he? Drew is a Boras client.

 

[Humphrey]

But either way, while I think it is remotely an issue because, well, better is better, and JBJ is better than Betts in CF, the list of issues that should be of greater concern is rather long.  This one is above the fact that their blue Friday night unis are nicer than their red ones, and probably should be used exclusively instead of the red ones, but probably not above many other points.

That's about where I would put it, and all else being equal; in Fenway I'd rather have the better outfielder in right field anyway.     So IMHO that cuts the problem down even more  

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

882 words on Bobby Valentine.

 

[Granite Sox]

... And more on defensive shifts... and the Phillies... and Josh Hamilton... and the Brewers... Etc.

 

[Dahabenzapple2]

I would like JBJ to get a hit before anything is discussed

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

882 words on Bobby Valentine.

Worried about Bobby V? Don't be. He's doing better than you!

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

The Bobby V. thing this morning is the epitome of why I don't like Cafardo. There is no real need for an update on Bobby V. but if you're going to do it, go all in. Cafardo spends 3/4s of his column going over what happened in 2012. We know what happened that year, there's no need for it.

But expand on what he's doing now. What films is he producing? Where is his new restaurant? What does he do at Sacred Heart? Get him to talk about 2012 a bit.

For a guy who has been in newspapers for 30+ years, he acts as if he's a rookie.

 

[Humphrey]

Did you know the Phillies are trying to unload several players?   

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Did you know 12 teams could be interested in Tulo? It's true-lo!

 

[joe dokes]

Cherington acknowledged that he felt fortunate that the other teams in the division haven’t gotten it together either. They have their own flaws, blemishes, call them what you want.
The fact is, this Red Sox team shouldn’t have flaws, blemishes, holes.
 

 
The 2015 Boston Red Sox should be like no team in baseball history.  Yes, those are reasonable expectations.

 

[Omar's Wacky Neighbor]

For a guy who has been in newspapers for 30+ years, he acts as if he's a rookie.

No, because a rookie would get canned for being this lazy.

 

[InstantKarmma]

John Farrell seems to be taking the heat for his underperforming millionaires on social media and talk shows. Who knows how ownership feels about it?

Sigh.

 

[Humphrey]

Would Nick be so forward in his demand that a Red Sox player be traded to advance his career had said player not been a Borass client?